


The Talented Mr. Fleming

by Measured_Words



Category: Return to Night - Mary Renault
Genre: Acting!, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Makeup, Mysterious Bank Errands, Trope Bingo Round 3
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-08
Updated: 2014-04-08
Packaged: 2018-01-18 14:39:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1432186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Measured_Words/pseuds/Measured_Words
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lisa needsRupert for an errand, but Rupert is in Europe.  Good thing she knows a talented actor...</p><p>"This whole notion is absurd," Hilary repeated, though all three of them knew it well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Talented Mr. Fleming

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much to Naraht for beta assistance - any remaining errors are my own!

"This whole notion is absurd," Hilary repeated, though all three of them knew it well.

"Entirely absurd," Lisa agreed, "I can't say whether Rupert would be more affronted or amused."

"You don't intend to tell him?"

"I don't expect so, though I'm sure he'll put it together on his own."

He would be well equipped for it, Hilary imagined, if he hadn't already anticipated the necessity some sort of similar scheme.

"And your lawyer can't do anything?"

"I usually would see him, but it's impossible now. The notice came too late. I hope you're not thinking I'm in any way pleased with the situation – I assure you I'm not. Who would be? But none of us can think of a better solution."

It was just then that Julian re-entered the room, though Hilary wouldn't have recognized him if he hadn't been expected. Her heart skipped as she took in his transformation – hair greyed, eyes lined, dressed in tweeds that he'd managed to come across somewhere – possibly at the theatre. The way he held himself with his shoulders slightly stooped seemed to compress his whole frame. She wouldn't have thought it possible for him to look so ordinary, and her shock made her feel shallow. She surely loved him for more than his beauty, yet what if her previous imaginings of him as he aged were false? She had remained so certain his interest would fade that her own had hardly seemed an issue, but had she been wrong? It wasn't a train of thought to dwell on; certainly not at the moment.

"Well, you look nothing like him, of course," Lisa said, taking a turn around him, "but you look close to enough to what they will be expecting at the bank. Can you manage the rest?”

"Given suitable direction, I'm confident of it." He looked to Hilary here, and she nodded though she wasn't certain if he sought agreement or her approval. 

"We can manage direction in the car – come along then. Hilary, I appreciate the loan. I'll try not to get him into much trouble." She smiled wryly. "This should be the only visit required."

Julian swept in to offer Lisa his arm, a little too gallantly, and she corrected him as he helped her out the door.

"Mind how you drive," Hilary called after them. 

She considered again the very strange situation. Imagine what the talk would be in the village if they knew! But one hoped that they would never find out, and she supposed that Julian, at least, did owe Lisa something of a debt. She shook her head, telling herself that some tea and light reading would help pass the few hours better than worrying.

\----

Julian thought Lisa made a passable director for someone with little interest in the stage – at least it helped him to interpret her remarks as simple stage directions and adjust his performance as required. She seemed satisfied, and in any case their errand was a success.

She did need to remind him on the trip home that this meant he could return to being himself. He learned in this way that his usual style of driving was much closer to Rupert's than he (or Hilary) had assumed.

"Funny isn't it," he told Hilary after, as she was perched on a chair near the vanity, watching him remove the make-up that he'd used to transform himself. In order to pass a closer inspection he'd had to use some different tricks than he would have on stage, but no one had given him much notice. "The things we might guess about a person from what little we know of them. Though I do feel I know a deal more about Mr. Clare after today."

"What, just from a little dressing up?"

He shook his head. "No, from things Mrs. Clare was telling me." He paused – he hadn't meant to talk about philosophies of acting, but he couldn't quite resist, either. "When you're playing a role on stage, you know just the sorts of things you're preparing for – you've read the script, and any thinking you might do about how a character sees the world is ultimately focused on how it will affect your scenes."

"This was a little more improvisational."

"Exactly." He smiled, though he could tell it didn't have its usual effect when Hilary failed to respond in kind, and put this down to the current state of his face . "There were a lot more possibilities to prepare for, and a lot more thinking. The roles I like to play aren't typically models of admirable behaviour."

"Are you thinking of packing yourself off to Europe to chase news stories now?" She smiled now in return, letting him know she was teasing. "I hardly think it suits you."

"No, hardly. But to consider how someone else moves through the world can put things in a new perspective." He didn't want to trouble Hilary with it, but the experience had only thrown into sharper relief for him just how profoundly influential one’s appearance was upon personal interactions. It had been profoundly liberating to be treated as ordinary, but now he finished wiping away the last visible traces of Rupert Clare and stepped back from the mirror. "There."

"All yourself again?"

Julian closed the makeup box and went to sit at Hilary's feet. "All yours, my dear. All yours."


End file.
